A software appliance generally may refer to one or more software applications that are integrated with a specific operating system and/or other software or hardware elements for subsequent installation and/or use in standard/commodity environments that may exist for potential purchasers/customers of the software application(s)/appliance. In this way, potential difficulties related to installation, maintenance, and use of the software application(s) may be minimized, and the software applications thus may more easily be provided to a large and varied customer base.
For example, a software vendor may develop and sell software applications using a Linux or Macintosh operating system, while a customer may operate in a Windows environment. Or, even if the vendor develops software applications in a common operating environment with potential customers, it still may occur that installation and configuration of such software applications may be expensive, time-consuming, and prone to error, particularly for large/complex applications.
In contrast, software appliances may be installed in a virtualized setting (e.g., in a virtual machine) or in a hardware setting (e.g., in a separate, pre-configured computing device) that is already configured to run the contained applications. Thus, providers of the software appliance may be better able to sell, install, maintain, and update the appliance and contained applications.